Record perfection: East's Camden Taylor sets every individual NIC-10 swim record

LeBron James broke the NBA record for most points scored last week.

But what if he also held the record for most rebounds. Most assists. And most blocked shots.

That's what Camden Taylor is doing in NIC-10 swimming.

The 6-foot-9 East senior broke the NIC-10 record in the 50-yard freestyle (20.86 seconds) and the 100 breaststroke (56.95 seconds) Saturday at Jefferson. That gives him eight career NIC-10 titles — all in record times and all in different events.

Taylor now holds every single conference individual record in boys swimming, which can only be set at the conference meet.

“It felt really good to do it,” Taylor said. “It was a big goal. I knew it was going to be hard, but I stuck with it and I did it.”

No one came close to challenging Taylor on Saturday.

“You always want to chase someone who is faster than you, but there is also a certain limit to how far you can chase,” said Cale Miles, who won the 200 individual medley and the 100 butterfly and also starred on the winning 200 medley and 200 freestyle relay teams to lead Hononegah to its 13th consecutive team title.

Good friend Jeremy Mueller — who holds Harlem’s school records in every event — almost took a past record away from Taylor. Mueller won the 100 free and 200 free — the two events Taylor swam at sectionals and state last year and the two he will choose again. In the 100 free, Mueller’s time of 46.94 was only half a second off Taylor’s record time, set last year.

“That was the goal,” Mueller said of trying to leave his friend one record short of a perfect tally. “It’s hard to grind out a time like that at this point in the season, when you are aiming for state to be your fastest meet. But I am happy either way.”

“I was a little worried about that one," Taylor said. "I would have been a little disappointed, but he’s my friend. I would have been happy for him.”

Steve Kitzman’s 50 free record that Taylor broke had stood for 34 years. Most of Taylor's records shattered marks that stood for more than a generation. Yet he said his hardest record was breaking the 100 breaststroke, a mark that Boylan’s Brady Dolan set just two years ago and that Taylor surpassed by more than two seconds.

“That was the hardest just because it was the last one and the nerves were going,” Taylor said.

Freeport freshman diver Tristan Peterson set pool and school records several times this year. He came nowhere near the NIC-10 record, but had a score of 443.20 to win the diving title by 75 points.

“He dove excellent, very consistent,” Freeport diving coach Garry Cacciapaglia said. “Every time he was diving, he was breaking a record, so it’s tough to ignore the records. But now that he has set the standard here, he’s in good shape. It’s just a matter of building on that.”

Hononegah has become the standard in NIC-10 swimming, extending its record run of conference titles to 13 this year.

“Hopefully, we can keep winning for awhile,” Miles said. “Maybe we can reach 20.”

Miles, 100 backstroke champ Owen West and Vito Skominas (second to Mueller in the 200 free and second to Taylor in the 100 breast) led Hononegah. Skominas set a school record with his time of 1:00.49 in the breaststroke.

“That man was born for swimming, just like Michael Phelps was,” Skominas said of Taylor. “I was more than happy to race him and get myself a record.”

Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.

NIC-10 boys swimming records

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: East senior Camden Taylor now holds all 8 NIC-10 boys swim records